Lady Gaga X Terry Richardson (book)

Lady Gaga X Terry Richardson is a photo book by Lady Gaga and photographer Terry Richardson. It was released on November 22, 2011 by Grand Central Publishing. The book consists of photos (in black-and-white and in color) that Richardson took of Gaga during a 46 days period, ranging from Gaga's performance at Lollapalooza on August 6, 2010 to the final show of her Monster Ball Tour in Mexico on May 6, 2011. More than 100,000 pictures were taken during the time period, with over 365 appearing in the book, which features a foreword written by Gaga. A limited edition of the book was planned to be released in 2012 by Taschen.

In February of 2012, The Ellen DeGeneres Show put for auction a signed copy of the book with the proceed going to one of Ellen's favorite charities, The Gentle Barn.

Contents

Background

On September 8, 2010, Gaga revealed that the two had teamed up again to work on a "Monster Ball Tour Book".

“

[Terry] wanted to do a book about the 'Monster Ball.'He wanted to shoot me backstage, not onstage, and look at who I am offstage. He's on the bus with me. He just follows me everywhere. He'll photograph me when I'm changing - those quick changes during the show.
And sometimes I'll have to pee during the show, and I'm always screaming, 'Terry, get out!' And he'll be saying, 'It's so beautiful. You're so punk!' If only my fans knew I was peeing in a beer cup backstage.

”

—Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson

Publication date

November 22, 2011 (1st ed.)

Publisher

Grand Central Publishing

Country

United States

Pages

360

Size

10 1/4" x 12 3/4"

ISBN

978-1455513895

1st edition

Foreword: Terry and Me

thumb|right|200px|Gaga reading the foreword. Sometimes it seems as though I've waited my entire life to be photographed by Terry Richardson. With Terry, the relationship extends beyond the photograph, and if you're really lucky he will teach you something truly profound about yourself. I have discovered through him that "shame" is an obsolete notion and "apology" is an injustice to any performance. Perhaps it is his kind eyes behind those famous glasses, or the giggling noise he makes at 4:0 in the morning when he's caught me in bed. Click, giggle, click, click, click, "beautiful". To say he is a free spirit is a tremendous understatement, and to say that he (or I) make people uncomfortable, is spot on. We share these things that there are no limitations. At all. His heart is too wide. He makes me want to widen my own.

Terry finds beauty in the most intricate and unassuming of places. His photography beckons the question over and over gain: Should there ever be limitations in art? Because when he captures me in a moment of such tandem artistic and human purity, I am convinced the answer is that we must push the boundaries of culture through love and acceptance. There is no moment too strange, no angle unflattering, no circumstance relying on blind artifice, and never a time that I feel embarrassed or unsafe. Awakened in me is a perverse liberation, inspiring me to feel that it is okay to view yourself as hyper-human. That is how Terry views me.